Statistics, Data Analysis and Probability for Grade 12, Problem ID: 5412
Marek, the pan-dimensional super being, has arbitrarily defined his current location as (0,0,0,0,0,0) in 6D hyperspace. He wishes to reach location (3, 0, 2, 0, 4, 3) by one of the many shortest paths available. Despite his immense power, he can only move one hyperstep at a time, each hyperstep consisting of a unit change in exactly one of the coordinate values. Any hyperstep is of equal ‘length’.
From how many of the shortest paths can he choose?
[HINT: You could try an easier problem first.]
Author: Leslie Green
12! / ( 3! x 2! x 4! x 3!)122 + 32 + 22 + 42 + 3212( 3! x 2! x 4! x 3!) 11! / (2 x (3!)2 )